What is a Follicular Unit?

In the scalp, hair follicles grow in natural clusters. These clusters can be as many as 6 hairs in one group. The natural cluster of hairs growing in one group are refereed to as a Follicular Unit. Hair graft implants by follicular unit means no more hair plugs, just natural discrete hair units. In our Houston hair transplant clinic, these micro implant grafts produce more natural results. We are 100% focused on FUE, because FUE is our specialty.

What is Follicular Unit Extraction?

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) is one of the latest advances in hair restoration. It is a type of hair transplant. For the physician and medical team, this treatment is a meticulous and time consuming process that is difficult to do correctly. Many tools have been developed to assist with the FUE hair transplant procedure. The FUE approach is not easy and is employed by the best hair transplant doctors in the world. At our Houston center, we deploy these tools to assist us. To perform FUE, various options are currently available.

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) is also known by other abbreviations: FOX, FIT, and FUM. It is a method of extracting hair from the donor area without a linear incision or scalpel. This dramatically reduces pain as it treats a thinning scalp. Because there is no line incision made, FUE grafting has achieved popularity in the press. The advantages of an FUE Hair Transplant in Houston include that there is no linear incision on the back of the head. In addition, the relative discomfort is be greatly diminished. FUE is particularly helpful for those individuals who have active life styles and/or wear their hair short in which even a very good donor closure could still be visible to the naked eye.

The small holes that remain are left open to heal, which usually takes a few days. There are a variety of punches used for this procedure, each having its advantages and disadvantages, with new ones continually being developed.

As in a follicular unit transplant, grafts are placed into tiny recipient sites on your scalp as a treatment for male pattern baldness. These hair follicle sites are made by the surgeon to fill balding area. However, using natural follicle units for restoration can be difficult. An experienced team is required. Dr. Jezic is a hair transplant surgeon and restoration doctor with a specialty focus on Follicular unit transplants. He, and his team, offer Neograft FUE in Houston Texas as well as several other FUE restoration options that can be discussed such as robotic hair transplants. We believe this allows us to achieve high growth rates with improved success rates.

What are the tools of FUE?

A hair transplant using FUE can be done manually with the down side being the need for a highly skilled team and how long it takes to complete i.e a maximum graft count of under 1000. The limitation on harvesting grafts exist because the goal is to extract a hair graft as intact as possible. You also get great recovery.

Motorized and Robotic Hair Transplantation are a natural extension of improvements in the technology of Follicular Unit Extraction . The automation of the standard FUE procedure contributes to the overall improvement of the surgery in a number of ways. While some people will ask about Neograft vs Artas or compare Artas to FUE, it is important to remember these are all tools used to complete FUE.

Neograft/Alphagraft

The FUE hair restoration process can be completed with motorized devices such as Neograft or Alphagraft with the down side being the need to have a highly skilled team and the upside being the large number of grafts that can be obtained.

FUE vs FUT what is more effective?

When it comes to FUE vs FUT, the question is often raised about efficacy. Peer reviewed work is considered the standard for answering this question. The truth is, no (medline indexed peer reviewed) research has shown one method to be better than the other. They are both good methods to harvest grafts. The main things to consider are the limitations and side-effects in outcomes. For example, FUT gives you more down time and a large scar. Meanwhile, FUE does not have the same downsides of FUT. However, FUE is limited by the number of grafts done in one session.

Virtual Consultation

For your convenience, Dr. Jezic offers virtual consultations for individuals who live outside of Houston or for those who simply prefer the privacy of an at-home evaluation.